Nillium Neems - Dream Catcher

Kitchenware tinkled to the floor around me, and I felt my whole body stiffen in fear. Straining my ears as hard as I could, I listened for any sounds of pursuit. Nothing. I was safe. Letting out my pent up breath, I moved in a crouch, hiding behind counters and random appliances.

The kitchen was huge, meant to serve guests all throughout the day. Somebody had told me the place could cook for three hundred easy, but I suspected even more. And somewhere in all of this, were two little kids, trying to stay quiet, just like me. Two little kids, and at least two... well, best to not go there.

I saw the exit up ahead, the path clear at least for now. But I’d feel like an awful jerk if I left too little kiddos to get eaten. I had to save them.

“Errm, little boy?” I called softly, since I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name.

Silence.

“Little girl?” I called even more softly, whose name I also couldn’t remember.

More silence, followed by the quiet, stealthy sound of a ladle getting knocked to the floor, one of those big ones you used for soup. I held my breath, not daring to make a sound. Then I heard it.

Faintly, but unmistakably, the ‘click’ of talons as they hit the floor. Wherever it was, it was close. Too close. Trying desperately to keep my hands still, though they were shaking like someone with cerebral palsy anyways, I reached one hand blindly to the counter above me, searching for something to throw as a distraction. Naturally, I knocked over a container filled with silverware, which clattered to the ground all around me.

I started running at about the same time that the nearest velociraptor leapt onto a nearby countertop and roared at me. I dived sideways, climbing right through some kind of backless cupboard and gaining at least a little time, as the second raptor followed the first one.

“KIDS!” I screamed, scurrying under some kind of cart to gain just a little more headway.

Everything seemed to clatter to the floor behind me as the raptors neared, heedless of the destruction they caused in their wake. Just when I began to lose all hope, Tim or Jim or whatever the litlte kid’s name was exploded out of his hiding place in a large oven. The little girl followed a moment later, rounding a corner as we ran towards her.

“Head that way!” I yelled, pointing towards what I hoped was safety, but who really knew. I wasn’t even fully positive it was the exit.

Both kids proved speedier than me, using that creepy, eerie sort of grace, that only the very young possess. It probably saved their lives as they banged through the large swinging door, but doomed mine as Raptor #1 landed between me and them.

“Go away!” I shouted, making shooing motions with my hands, as if I was chasing pigeons away from a picnic table.

I heard the click of talons on the floor behind me, and knew that I was officially caught in a pincer attack.

“Clever girl...” I muttered under my breath, knowing that #2 would pounce before I could even turn. I turned anyways.

“Neems!” the raptor shouted, for some reason not attacking me.

“Huh?” I said, confused.

Somebody slapped me over the head.

“Neems!”

I realized the raptor wasn’t moving it’s mouth. Had a spirit from beyond come to save me?

“Neems, wake the hell up!”

I felt another slap, a hard one, and I was back in Melany Took’s classroom. My mythology teacher slapped me again anyways, just for good measure, and then grinned at a job well done.

“God, I wish I was born in the days where teachers could slap their students around. I would have fit in so well. And the answer to the quiz is Arthur, by the way, not 'kids' ”

I blinked at her.

“Was I talking out loud?”

She responded with a grin.

“Only a little. The class was finding it so amusing that they’d stopped paying much attention to my lesson. I only somewhat reluctantly had to put a stop to it.”

I colored a little in embarrassment as Melany made her way back to her desk. But just a little. If I went and got embarrassed by all the wacky stuff I did, my face would rather permanently have been colored red.

“Alright, class,” Melany announced, thumping a fist rather loudly on her desk to break up any student discussions that were taking place. “I understand that we are unfortunately going through some rather boring chapters right now, and it’s easy to get distracted. I just want you all to know that I’m as bored as the rest of you, so let’s mix things up a little.”

Many of the students looked relieved at Melany’s revelation, while a few looked apprehensive, wary of what our maniac teacher might have to say.

“Two more weeks and we’ll be onto some more interesting subject matter. Now with that said, I’m already in fairly deep trouble with the school board for nearly jumping off the Science Center a few days ago, so the last thing I need is someone walking in here and seeing all of my students sleeping.”

Several members of her class nodded. We were all familiar with our teacher’s rather dark disposition on life. Rumor had it that the only reason she hadn’t been fired yet, was because she had threatened an extremely embarrassing suicide if they did. Complete with a note blaming the school for her suicide. I knew this fact to be true.

“However,” Melany continued, her grin widening a bit, “if one of you were so kind as to guard the door and make sure that we have a heads up if anyone approaches, then I might be willing to overlook a few sleeping heads.”

One of the students, a sort of friend of mine named Sebastian Aioli, stood up in volunteer. Melany tossed him a twenty-dollar bill and pointed towards the door.

“If any staff members approach, start screaming or something and we’ll get back to teaching.” She then clapped her hands together, turning to survey the class at large. “Okay, now that we’ve settled that, do whatever you want for the remainder of my class. Who here brought food?”

I pulled some chips from my backpack, for I’d been expecting such a turn of events. Melany waved me over and I took a seat on her desk, proffering the chip bag.

“So, what’s up?” my teacher asked, as the class around her got busy sleeping, reading, playing on their phones, or making out. All the usual stuff that students are prone to doing.

“I dreamt about the Ethereal Vulture again,” I said quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

Melany frowned.

“That’s the third time this week, right?”

“Fourth,” I answered grimly. “It’s not even just nightmares where he’s showing up, he’s invading my good dreams now too!”

Melany tapped her fingers a few times on the desk. Only last year I’d confided in her all about my... unique circumstances as an individual. Where I’d come from, what I’d done, and what I had still yet to do.

“But you haven’t encountered any,” and here she lowered her voice further still, “Tormentors lately, have you?”

I shook my head.

“Not since the whole Internet Killer thing. Life has been pretty quiet on the, errm, paranormal front.”

She shook her head, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a small flask.

“Your life sucks almost as bad as mine does, Neems.” She made a face at the strong taste of the liquor, but then took another swig anyways. The day we’d become friends was the first (and hopefully only) time that I had gotten drunk. I did not wish to repeat the process.

As I was musing over my past mistakes, one of the classroom windows shattered and Melany’s drinking flask flew from her hand with a dull ‘pock’ sound. She picked it up, a stunned expression on her face. I leaned around her to take a look, and saw a large bullet hole in the middle of it, steadily dripping the remnants of her liquor.

“Guess someone is trying to show you the error of your ways,” I said casually, a bit stunned myself. It was Melany who saved my life, grabbing me around the waist and hurling us both to the ground as another window shattered, and a second bullet flew overhead.

Her class started to panic after that, but if one thing could be said of Melany, despite her many flaws, she was a good leader. Good enough to keep control of a room full of panicked students, and maybe, with any luck, save their lives.

“Everyone down!” she shouted. “Stay down, crawl into the corner away from the windows, and don’t move. Me and Neems will distract whatever moron thinks he can break my windows.”

I felt a little bit drafted into being a hero, having had no say in the matter. But hey, it wouldn’t be the first time I’d done something stupid for the sake of another person. Sighing only a little bit, I started crawling towards the doorway.

Realizing I was alone, I turned to see Melany had reached her desk and was crouched behind it, daring to reach up with an arm and riffle through one of the drawers. I was not at all surprised when she pulled out a pearl-handled revolver.

“The school board still hasn’t taken that away from you?”

She flashed her teeth at me.

“They tried. But that’s as far as they got. Now let’s go see what all this ruckus is about.”

She nodded as if concluding that her reasoning was sound, then crawled back to where I was and reached up to open the door.

“Keep your heads down,” she called back to her class, waving a hand at them.

Then we were through the door, moving fast and keeping low, at least until we ran into Sebastian.

Melany looked at him with surprise.

“You’re still standing guard?”

Sebastian shrugged.

“You paid me twenty bucks. That’s good money.”

Melany reached into her pocket and took out another twenty.

“Keep an eye on my class for me, kid. You did good. Assuming we all survive today, I’ll certainly have a few tasks for you in the future.”

Sebastian gratefully took the money, then went back to slouching against the wall, standing watch. Melany and me continued our mad dash out of the building.

“What do you think,” I asked as we headed down the stairs to the first floor. “Psycho school shooter, or some innocent who accidently shot at us while aiming at ducks?”

“No one is innocent in this world,” Melany replied grimly, placing a hand on the main doors. “Now here’s the plan, Neems. We don’t know what’s out there, or what kind of chaos we might be walking into. So as soon as I slam these doors open, we duck and run for cover. There’s this goofy-looking sculpture about thirty yards ahead of us which should provide a place for us to hide and check things out.”

I nodded.

“You mean the one of the Greek guy holding an orange?”

“Precisely.”

No one throughout the campus knew which god the statue was supposed to represent, not even the teachers. Everyone usually just called it the Greek Guy, or on occasion, Mr. Minute Maid.

“Ready?” Melany asked.

I tried to think of a snappy one-liner, but nothing came to mind so I just shrugged instead. I noticed an odd look on Melany’s face that looked an awful lot like excitement. And it was with a sinking feeling as she slammed the door open, that I realized she was enjoying this.

Then we ran, through the sunlight and towards cover, Melany in a crouch, me in a sense pre-crouched since I was short, allowing me to just focus on speed. We were halfway to the statue when I heard the first gunshot, followed by a loud ping and an eruption of dirt as it plowed into the ground by my foot.

Melany whipped around, pistol raised, but she didn’t really have a target to shoot at. Snipers were good at being elusive. I just kept running, only a few feet now from the statue, and another bullet carved into the earth beside me.

Fearing that the next would be the last, I went into a slide, feet first like a baseball player going for second base. My feet collided with the edge of the blocky pedestal that the statue stood upon, and instantly I scurried around the side of it on my hands and feet, keeping low. Melany was beside me a few seconds later, breathing heavily.